The National Assembly has today, 26th March, 2021 successfully concluded its 2nd Meeting in the 49th Session of Parliament.
The 5-week long Mid-Year Budget Review Meeting of Parliament was held in unprecedented and unique circumstances where a few Members attended physically while the rest attended virtually via zoom.
The Meeting saw the House table a number of issues including reviewing the 2020/2021 Budget.
Below is a summary of business which was considered and disposed of by the House during this Meeting.
Questions to the President
His Excellency the President, Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera, availed himself to the House on 17th February, 2021 to answer questions from Members of Parliament.
Ministerial Statements
In total, the House considered ten Ministerial Statement as follows:
(i) Statement by the Honourable Minister of Agriculture on progress made so far in the implementation of the Agricultural Input Programme (AIP)
(ii) Statement by the Honourable Minister of Education on “State of the preparedness for schools reopening”
(iii) Statement by the Honourable Minister of Health on “Status of Covi-19 pandemic and deployment of vaccines on Covid-19”
(iv) Statement by the Honourable Minister of Education on Secondary Education Expansion for Development (SEED) project.”
(v) Statement by the Honourable Minister of Trade on Small and Medium Exchange (SME) Empowerment and Sanity in the Poultry Industry.
(vi) Statement by the Honourable Minister of Tourism, Culture and Wildlife on Tourism amidst Covid-19 negative impact in Malawi.
(vii) Statement by the Honourable Minister of Education on Transforming Education in Malawi.
(viii) Statement by the Honourable Minister of Lands on State of Lands
(ix) Statement by the Honourable Minister of Labour on setting the Economy in Motion through Job Creation.
(x) Statement by the Minister of Civic Education and National Unity
1.1 Bills
The house considered and passed 2 bills; namely, Bill No. 1 of 2021: Appropriation (2020/2021) (Amendment) and Bill No. 2 of 2021: European Investment Bank (Southern Region Water Board Water Supply and Sanitation Programme) Loan (Authorization and Ratification)
1.2 Mid-Year Budget Review
The Honourable Minister of Finance, Economic Planning and Development delivered his statement on the 2020/2021 Mid-Year Budget Review on Friday, 26th February, 2021.
The House debated the Minister’s Motion on the Mid-Year Budget Review from 1st March and the debate was wound up on 5th March, 2021. Thereafter, the Revised Mid-year Budget Estimates were considered Vote by Vote by the Committee of Supply from Monday, 8th March until Thursday, 11th March, 2021 in which the House passed all the votes that appeared on the Order Paper.
Ultimately, the House passed the 2020/2021 Mid-Year Revised Budget with a total sum of K2,335,052,747,895.
Questions on Notice to Ministers for Oral Replies
During this Meeting, Ministers have responded to a total of 89 questions. The Vice President, Right Honourable Dr. Saulos Claus Chilima came to answer questions in his capacity as Minister of Economic Planning and Public Sector Reforms.
Committee Reports
During this meeting the House discussed eight Committee Reports out of which seven were adopted and one was referred back to the Committee for further work. The Committee Reports are as follows: –
(i) Report of the Parliamentary Committee on Public Accounts upon considering and scrutinizing a Special Audit Report on the misuse of Constituency Development Fund (CDF);
(ii) Report of the Parliamentary Committee on Public Accounts upon considering and scrutinizing the Reports of the Auditor General on the Accounts of the Local Councils for the Years Ended 30th June, 2015 and 2016, 2017 and 2018;
(iii) Report of the Parliamentary Committee on Industry, Trade and Tourism on the formulation, implementation and review of policies relating to the Industry, Trade and Tourism Sections.
(iv) Report of the Parliamentary Adhoc Committee on Constituency Development Fund and Water Development Fund Guidelines;
(v) Report of the Parliamentary Committee on Natural Resources and Climate Change on the Status of the Salima-Lilongwe Water Supply Project.
(vi) Report of the Parliamentary Committee on Industry, Trade and Tourism on the rampant cross-border trading of smuggled sugar and beverages into Malawi.
(vii) Report of the Parliamentary Committee on Industry, Trade and Tourism on the status of Malawi’s Business and Investment Climate.
(viii) Report of the Parliamentary Committee on Media, Information and Communications on its activities carried out in the 2019/2020 and 2020/2021 Financial Years.
The Report of the Parliamentary Committee on Privileges on the question of breaching privilege for Honourable Member for Blantyre South East as raised by Honourable Member for Dedza South was sent back to the Committee for consideration to address concerns raised by Member for Dedza South.
1.3 Private Member’s Business
Under Private Members Business, the House received constituency statements from Seven Members of Parliament addressing various issues affecting their constituencies.